MOTW (member of the week, duh): j.hull

*youngest member of the o-house, and arguably the hottest.

it’s taken some time (mostly because the o-house just recently forgave her for going home when she had the swine instead of sharing it with the rest of us), but i am pleased to announce that jennie hull is the o-house member of the week.

let’s just share jennie’s story:

it was may of 2009 and the o-house girls found themselves in a desperate situation. after a drama-filled series of events, the details of which are beyond the scope of this blog, we were without a sixth roommate. there were house meetings and super intense phone conversations with landlord dave (props to syd for handling those), and a solution could not be found.

enter jennie hull… aka the sixth man.

i first met j. hull when she and her mom came to look at the house. and i remember thinking, wow, that’s the nicest girl ever. and her mom was great too, because she LOVED the basement, which is pretty much the opposite reaction of all the other moms who have been down there. jennie signed the lease, wrote a check and we were good to go.

after living with jennie for 7+ months, i still think, wow, that’s the nicest girl ever. and also the sneakiest girl. she goes in and out that side door with incredible stealth. if i were planning to rob a house, or even a bank or train, i would consult jennie first, and probably let her in on the heist.

*clever disguise that would come in handy in aforementioned robberies.

however i can’t really picture jennie ever turning to a life of crime. she wants to be an elementary teacher. if i had to guess, i would say that she’d be the type of teacher who gave out skittles and extra recess time and didn’t’ make you feel like an idiot if you forgot the capital of Montana, or if you incorrectly spelled it "c-a-p-i-t-o-l", as i initially did in this post. and she would probably admit to you that long division is a waste of time, thanks to a clever new invention called the calculator….but that’s just a guess.

remember when jennie saved toby’s life? well, by that i mean the time that she tried to save his life, but it didn’t actually need to be saved. IRRELEVANT. the point is that she was super concerned, and she devised the brilliant (albeit unnecessary) rescue plan.

random fact: jennie hull goes to more birthday parties than anyone i have ever known. i would guess that 32% of our conversations include the phrase, “oh, i’m going to a birthday party that night.” now, granted the o-house hosts a lot of birthday parties, but jennie’s party-going is on another level.

*at a birthday party... for Jesus.

random fact #2: jennie's been pulled over like 47 times (ok, i think it's 11). but all but one of those times were because of her headlights. this has led to a fear of driving at night that rivals even my grandmother's.

awesome news about j.hull: after many, many job interviews, jennie just landed a job at coldstone. mmm. the o-house girls, like all Americans, love ice cream. we’re crossing our fingers that she gets a discount on ice cream cakes.

jennie hull: a friend to pets and people, swine flu survivor, birthday party-goer extraordinaire, future coldstone creamery employee of the millennium, and most importantly- O-HOUSE MEMBER OF THE WEEK. oh yeah, and nicest girl ever.

member of the week: sydney freaking miller

so you know how sometimes there’s a lot of trash in the trashcan, and instead of taking the trash out, people just keep piling stuff on top? and then you go to throw something away and the whole thing’s overflowing with banana peels and used Kleenex and other unpleasantries. and you say to yourself, “ugh. why do people do that? why don’t they just take out the trash?” but then to prove a point you go ahead and strategically place your trash on top… oh, that’s just the o-house?

well we were in such a state last week. i am fairly certain that the trash needed taken out for a solid three days. i know because there was no room for my empty cereal box, so i just put it back in the cupboard. sometimes its not that we’re lazy, it’s just that we’re busy. (but mostly, we're lazy.) and that’s when i decided that whoever took out the trash would be the o-house member of the week. guess who it was:

not sydney miller.

no, it was our very own abby trammel. i should have seen that one coming a mile away. abby has already been the o-house member of the week and therefore is ineligible to receive the honor again. sorry abs.

so i chose an alternative member of the week, who is equally deserving. that’s right:

SYDNEY MILLER.

there are any other reasons that syd deserves roommate of the week. i texted the other o-housers to see what they thought needed to be included in this post. here are a few responses:

“i think it is of vital importance that the capital of Australia was named after our very own sydney miller. and heath ledger and surfing came from there.” – jennie hull

“gotta do something about b**** week.”—abby trammel ( this is, of course, a term coined by sydney. and if you don’t know what it is, sorry. i have to keep this PG.)

now, obviously there are about 293418892 things about sydney that should be included in this post, but i don't have time to write all of them, and you don't have time to read them... unless you have no life. so instead of typing out a long list of syd's best attributes and idiosyncrasies, i am instead sharing her semi-fictitious daily schedule, which should give you a pretty clear indication of how wonderful she truly is. i now present:

a day in the life of sydney miller

6:38 am: wakes up

6:52: out the door

6:54: grabs some starbucks

7:00: prayer at the middle school

7:42: back at the o-house, making herself look like an adult

8:15: back to starbucks

*note: sydney doesn't dress like this on a regular basis. i'm merely proving the point that the girl loves her some starbucks.

8:28: starting the day at meadowlark, hanging out with all of her 87 year-old BFFs

9:30: meeting about what kind of jello to serve

12:30 done at meadowlark for the day… still no decision on the jello

12:38 lunch at the o-house, puts bagel bites in the oven

12:39 reading O magazine and talking to middle school girls online

1:17 needs some coffee, goes downstairs. remembers the bagel bites. smoke is pouring out of the oven. no big deal. has cinnamon sugar toast instead.

1:38 out the door to go to the younglife office

1:45 some sort of younglife meeting

2:30 pick up some middle school girls from school. go to sonic for happy hour. duh.

3:49 drop off middle schoolers at home, simultaneous conversation with bethany brabec about future life plans

4:00 locked out of the o-house. frantic ringing of the doorbell so that she doesn't miss a moment of OPRAH.

5:00 work out class

6:07 post workout trip to java, sees 47 people she knows.

6:41 baking cookies at the o-house/ kitchen counseling session with sarah hach

6:59 another attempt to burn down the o-house

7:30 younglife/wyldlife event #2 of the day. undoubtedly involves wearing some sort of weird costume

8:51 back at the o-house, time to put on sweat pants, watch real housewives of new york and drink mountain dew out of a wine glass

8:54 joined by the other o-house girls. discussion about that day’s episode of oprah. turns into discussion of syd’s career goals: marry rich and give away money.

9:23 time for another cup of coffee

9:25 sits in room, plots ways to be more edgy, watches grey’s anatomy online

9:53 writes 2 page paper about her feelings. homework is done for the week.

10:01 looks up recipes for the next o-house dinner

10:21 meeting on keira’s bed. discussion includes: other people’s relationships, pioneer woman recipes and shampoo.

11:28 bed time

2:38 am becca comes to bed.

3:19 am becca gets up for the day. syd never knows she was there.

the end.

syd: we love you so much. mostly because you brought toby into our lives and came up with the idea for the blog. and gave us lucky charms for valentine's day.

spotlight on: abby trammel

well after a two-week hiatus, it is time to announce the o-house member of the week. this week’s lovely winner is none other than abby trammel. now there are lots and lots of reasons that abby is the o-house member of the week, but for the sake of time i’m just going to list ten, sort of david letterman style, if you will.

10. abby has the best nails of any girl i know.

9. abby trammel is very generous in giving her roommates manis/pedis, even when their (our) nails are totally disgusting. bethany brabec, i’m talking about you.

8. abby is also great at hair, make-up and fashion consultation. she’s probably the reason everyone else in the house is so pretty and why boys are always trying to date us.

7. abby is always willing to watch reality television with you. always.

6. abby has THE cutest niece ever. and she is nice enough to show us pictures on a regular basis.

5. abby really likes the following: kool-aid, lunchables, bagel bites, and dr. pepper. attention third graders everywhere: hide your lunches from abby.

4. abby shares the title of “co-MVP of o-house kitchen clean-up” with keira masters. sidenote: rounding out the top three vote getters was andrew crandall.

3. abby just got a car this year and loves driving everywhere. and the other o-house girls love being driven around, especially to class.

2. abby trammel has a commanding lead in the unofficial (okay, official) o-house race to the altar. and i do mean a commanding lead. some of us haven’t even left the starting blocks.

1. abby’s birthday was last Sunday. the o-house celebrated in style with a slight twist on our traditional surprise birthday party, meaning that we met her at huhot rather than waiting around the o-house for hours with blankets on our heads. abby’s was possibly the FIRST successful surprise party that we have thrown, in the sense that she was genuinely surprised.

O no no no

well i was all set to reveal this week’s o-house member of the week. jennie hull almost claimed the prize after she was the first roommate to compliment my new haircut, which is the most direct route to winning my favor. but then before i could piece together a rough draft in my head… a dark cloud settled over the o-house and i had a trauma-induced case of writer's block.

i can’t say it. you’ll just have to read it for yourself:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/19/oprah.ends.show/index.html

the o-house had a little meeting last night in which i revealed the news. there was some shock, a few near tears, and lots of pondering as to what we will do everyday at 4:00.

the news brought to the forefront a long-standing o-house goal: attend a taping of the oprah show. let me assure you, we’re working on it.

and so, it is with heavy hearts that we announce this week’s (honorary) o-house member of the week: oprah winfrey. she is the namesake of our home, our dream boss, our role model, and the blood within our veins… metaphorically speaking.

we love you, oprah. we love you so, so much.

spotlight on: becca melvin

i was having difficulty deciding who to spotlight first. and then one day, syd came rushing up the stairs proclaiming, “i have something for the blog! you have to put this on there!” the incident in question turned out to be a great becca Melvin story, which i will now share:

background:

becca hails from seattle, which means that she’s way cooler than everyone else. she’s super artsy, and is going to be really rich because she’s a landscape architecture major. she spends about 25 hours a day at studio, which you may think is impossible given the laws of space and time, but becca finds a way to do it.

becca can go weeks at a time without sleep and still manage to look totally hot. and she’s domestic. the other morning she whipped up a salmon pepper frittata for breakfast. i don’t even know what the hell that is, but it sounds (and looks) delicious:

at this point, our male readers should be asking, “does she have a boyfriend?” and the shocking answer to that question is, “no, although the o-house likes to make jokes about her pretend bf ‘stu’.” (short for studio, get it?)

becca’s dad is from England. both of her parents are geniuses. and although i’ve never been to the Melvin household, i’m guessing that it was a fascinating place to grow up. they probably had tea and crumpets every afternoon and bought fresh fish from the market and took weekly trips to the space needle. and i know for a fact that they have an herb garden.

now back to the story:

all of this would lead me to believe that the melvins didn’t consume a lot of little debbie snack cakes. which is why, when becca was presented with the gift of an oatmeal cream pie, she had no idea what it was. well, she had an idea… a very wrong idea that it was an ICE CREAM SANDWICH, and so she put it in the freezer. enter sydney miller, lots of laughing and the classic picture posted above.

i told you: hot, half-British and completely oblivious to the existence of junk food.

these are just a few of the qualities that make becca Melvin the o-house MEMBER OF THE WEEK!!! check back next week when we spotlight another member/share a semi-embarrassing story about them.